Victoria Cross
by SSACalliope-Prentiss
Summary: Continuing from my story 'Homesick', the BAU is called to NCIS to help solve a case. Though the BAU get many cases like these, this case hits a little too close to home.
1. Chapter 1

**Here we are :) Finally, the squeal to 'Homesick' that you all voted for.**

**You can still read this without reading Homesick, but the cookies in here might not make sense if you don't**

**Anyway, enjoy :)**

* * *

_Erin gave him a piece of paper "This one's from an old friend,"_

_Hotch looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and read the cursive print then looked back up at her "You've gotta be kidding me,"_

_"Aaron," she warned him._

_"We cannot work with these people," he said "They're cowboys,"_

_"They're fine agents," said Erin as she looked down at her file._

_Hotch looked back down at the piece of paper then walked out of her office and out to the bullpen._

_"Everybody to the SUVs with your tablets," he said as he walked along the boardwalk._

_"Where are we going?" Reid had just joined them._

_"NCIS,"_

Everyone's eyebrows went up, with the exception of Alex.

"NCIS?" Morgan asked "Are you positive?"

"Did they actually say the words 'FBI' and 'call' in the same sentence?" asked Emily as they all gathered their belongings.

"Not likely," Hotch said to her "But, this one came through Strauss,"

"Rossi!" Morgan called up "We're goin' on a field trip!"

JJ and Rossi came out looking confused as they made their way down to the bullpen.

"Let me just grab my stuff," JJ said as she jogged back to her office and they made their way to the black SUVs.

"Wait, why is it such a shock that they called us?" Alex asked no one specific "Everyone needs help sometimes,"

"Not these people," Morgan said "They don't like other agencies, especially the FBI and the CIA,"

"What other agencies are there?" Alex chuckled.

"Exactly," Emily replied with a smirk as they all piled into the cars.

* * *

The knife slides in as she falls in and out of consciousness. She groans in pain, but not very loud as she's on the verge of blackness.

"Losing your fight already?" it asks rhetorically "You're not as much fun as I thought you'd be,"

She can't tell if she's being attacked by a man or woman, but she didn't really care in that moment. She just wanted it to stop. The pain, the torture.

It grabs her by the hair and she screams briefly as it starts to drag her towards the corner. It lifts her up and puts her in the shackles. She figures that it's a man because no woman could lift her up like that with one hand. He ties his belt around her ankles and she dreads the next part. As she took in her surroundings, she sees a room with no windows and only single light bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling. There one tall metal cabinet which he makes his way over to and she knows it can't be good. She sees him glance back at her with a wicked grin as he stands under the light and now she can see him. He turns back around and sees him pull out a large box.

_'Shit'_ she thinks _'That's definitely not good'_

She sees the jumper cables in the other hand and she starts to squirm in the shackles. He connects one end of the jumper cables to the battery and the other to the belt around her.

"Please, no," she begs as he goes to turn it on. She never begs, but extreme circumstances cause for extreme measures "Please!" tears flow down her cheek as she keeps begging for her life.

"There we go," he lets out a wicked chuckle and she knew this was the end for her "Now it's fun," he says and waits for her to beg for her life one more time before turning the volts up to the highest charge. She screams at the top of her lungs as she feels the volts through her body. She feels pain in every wound he has given her so far. But something told her that electrocuting her was not the end for this creep. Soon she was back into blackness. At least something went her way in this torture.

* * *

"We can handle this ourselves," said Gibbs as he stormed into the directors office.

"No you can't," said Leon "And you know you can't,"

"We don't need the Feds," Gibbs said "Especially the bunch of mind readers!"

Leon smirked at him "They already know the case,"

"I know!" said Gibbs then he turned on his heel and stormed back out "Everyone!" he called down to his squad as he retreated down the steps and into the bullpen "Listen up, we have the BAU arriving any minute, be nice DiNozzo, we need to work with them,"

"Why?" DiNozzo whined only to receive a smack to the back of the head "Well, at least there are some...beautiful women," he phrased the question right, to escape the wrath of Gibbs' hand.

"We do not need them, Gibbs," Ziva said "We can handle this ourselves,"

"I know that Ziva," Gibbs said "But Vance doesn't seem to agree,"

"That would be because he's Vance," they heard from behind them. They all spun around to see seven suits standing there with one particular brunette wearing a smirk on her face, to which Gibbs returned.

"Thought you were in London," Gibbs said to her, stepping forward to give her a hug.

Emily shrugged when they pulled apart "Someone brought me to my senses," she quickly glanced at Alex.

"Hotchner," Gibbs nodded to the team leader wearing his stoic mask.

"Gibbs," Hotch returned his nod and stepped aside to let the rest of his team greet.

"You must be Agent Blake," Gibbs said and shook her hand "Emily's told me a lot about you,"

"Oh God," she muttered earning matching smirks from Gibbs and Emily.

"So," said Morgan "What brings us here?"

"He's back," said Gibbs.

"No way," JJ said.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Emily said.

"Shit," Morgan said.

They all spoke in unison as Rossi and Hotch gave each other a look, leaving Alex confused as ever.

"When?" Emily asked, Alex noticed she had stiffened in her stance.

"Three days ago," DiNozzo said "Two dead marines, and there was a note left,"

Emily closed her eyes briefly as she sighed then shook her head as he turned slightly.

"Okay, does someone want to tell me what's going on? Or shall I guess from Emily's body language that this wasn't a pleasant unsub?" Alex asked, making them all look at each other, then back at her before explaining.

"A year ago," Hotch said "Brunette women aged in their mid to late thirties were being brutally raped and murdered,"

"There were no connections between them except for the way they were killed," said JJ "Each time there was a note left, for one person explaining that they wouldn't stop trying to kill them,"

Gibbs was the next to speak "They were all marines, all the same physical type, our M.E found that they all had the same bone structure, and they were all from rich families,"

"We figured he died or went to prison," Rossi said "We didn't stop looking, but we had other cases that needed us,"

"Did you find out who the letters were for?" asked Alex, folding her arms over her chest.

They all remained silent before someone finally spoke up "Me,"

* * *

**Short, I know, but it'll get better, I promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, so I know it's taken forever for me to update this story, and I'm really sorry**

**Anyway, here's the second chapter for you :)**

**FINA-FUCKIN-LLY**

* * *

_"Did you find out who the letters were for?" asked Alex, folding her arms over her chest._

_They all remained silent before someone finally spoke up "Me,"_

"Emily?" Alex's eyebrows went up "Do you know this guy?"

Emily folded her arms over her chest, mimicking Alex "No, but he thinks he knows me, usually when an unsub is obsessed with a subject they feed off the attention it gives them, but I haven't heard anything since the last victim,"

"And because trying to contact you gets him attention, you figured he dropped off the grid," Alex said earning a nod in response "So why now?"

"We're not sure," Hotch said "We find out the 'why', we find out the 'who',"

Alex nodded "So, what do you have so far?" she asked Gibbs and the three agents behind him.

"Lieutenant Laura Watson was found two days ago against the back door of the Washington Monument," DiNozzo explained as he pulled up the crime scene photos onto the plasma screen "The janitor couldn't get out, and had to go around to see what was blocking the way,"

"Pleasant way to start your day," Rossi grumbled.

"Night, actually," said Ziva "He was a night janitor,"

"What time was she found?" Emily asked.

"2300 hours," Gibbs said "Ducky estimated the time of death at 1700 hours,"

"Were there any security cameras out the back?" Morgan asked them as he came around the back of Emily and Gibbs in front of the screen.

"Yeah," Tony said and played the footage. There was a man dressed in a black hoodie, black sweatpants and black steel-toed workers boots "He doesn't show his face,"

Emily sighed "He never did before, why start now?" everyone looked at her as she kept staring at the screen before Gibbs continued.

"Abby confirmed it was him through his height and build," Gibbs gestured to the unsub "Speaking of which," he said just before Emily's phone rang.

"Prentiss," she answered, only to have Gibbs smirk when she pulled the phone away from her ear at the rambling woman "Abby! I'm coming!" she said and hung up "I guess I'll be headed to the cafeteria,"

"The cafeteria?" Reid asked "Abby's lab is in the opposite direction.

"Caf-Pow, boy genius, Caf-Pow," Emily said as she retreated to the elevator.

"Is she okay?" Alex asked no one in particular.

Gibbs didn't say anything as he walked up to Emily just as the doors opened and they stepped inside.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

"I thought we were past this shit," Emily said after a few seconds of silence "I mean, this team had been through so much crap and now I'm putting them through the ringer again,"

"Hey," he said and turned to face her, pushing the emergency stop button "This isn't your fault, none of this is your fault, so don't even think about it,"

"Maybe if I did something differently, maybe if I made a different call," Emily said.

"Emily," Gibbs said "Stop it,"

"I can't stop!" Emily cried "People are dead! Six people are dead! I don't know what I did, but something triggered this guy, and he'll be coming after me next, and I can't put them through it again,"

"You are not putting them through anything, this psycho bastard is," said Gibbs "And you're going through it too,"

Emily shook her head then started the elevator again, turning to face the doors "It's not fair to them," she said as the doors opened and they stepped out.

* * *

"They're more than just...acquaintances, aren't they?" Alex asked everyone left in the bullpen.

"They're...close," JJ said "But I think that story is for Emily to tell you herself,"

Alex nodded as a man came running into the bullpen "Oh, nice of you to join us McNerd," Tony said "We were just having so much fun,"

"Where's Gibbs?" Tim asked as he chucked his stuff on his desk.

"More to the point, where were you?" Ziva came around to the front of his desk, soon joined by Tony, forgetting about the other team.

"Oh wait, don't tell me," Tony said "You got yourself a McLover,"

"Shut it Tony," said Tim.

Ziva gasped "Who is she?"

"No," said Tim and sat down at his desk "We're not doing this,"

"Wow," Tony said "She must've been some woman, Little Timmy has found himself a playmate," Tim just rolled his eyes.

"Sorry to break the little D&M," JJ said "But we have a case,"

"Of course, Agent Jareau," Tim said before typing something on the computer and standing up "Before I went home last night, I tracked the Lieutenant's footsteps, credit cards, phone calls, whatever i could find," he grabbed the remote from Tony and brought up a few files "Lieutenant Watson used her credit card at a gas station 3 miles from where she was found then a restaurant a few blocks away,"

"What was the restaurant?" Hotch asked him.

"_Bel Chiaro di Luna_, in Georgetown," said McGee, with no attempt at an Italian accent what-so-ever, knowing he would only cop it from Tony.

"Translation please Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi," Tony said, knowing that Rossi speaks fluently and he doesn't.

Rossi smirked at the other agent "Beautiful Moonlight," he said.

"Have you found security footage from the gas station?" Alex asked him.

McGee nodded then pulled up the footage onto the plasma. They saw Watson pull up in a red 1970 Buick GSX, with two black racing stripes down the middle. They couldn't make out details, but they saw her dressed in a black tight sparkly dress with red heels and a matching clutch.

"Pause it," Tony said and Tim stopped the footage "Is anyone else sensing another pattern?"

"Muscle cars," Morgan said catching on.

JJ scoffed and shook her head "And guess who else has a muscle car?" she asked the rest of the group, almost rhetorically.

"Princess has a muscle car?" asked Morgan with raised eyebrows.

She frowned and nodded in response "A 2009 Dodge Challenger, you didn't know?"

"Come on," said Tony "She isn't the most open person, Agent Jareau," They all knew he was right, Emily was very closed off, she hardly ever let her emotion show, and definitely didn't let anyone know specific details about her life. But everyone knows that it's her way of protecting herself and her team. It's what she did.

"These women are replicas of Emily, to the T, everything but the Marine Core," Alex pointed out "He's not just finding physical similarities, he's finding their secrets, he knows things about Emily that we don't even know,"

"Not to mention the planning that goes into finding the perfect woman," said Rossi.

"So we take this from another angle," said Alex and everyone's ears pricked up even more "Well, for one, we know Emily's a very private person, so she had to open up to someone, right? Someone she trusted,"

"Or had to trust," Hotch said, making everyone look at him "After she came back from Paris, the Bureau made her see a therapist, it was mandatory, her name was Dr Whyatt, I think,"

"Are you sure?" Reid asked him, earning a nod in response "Hotch, we've already determined that this unsub's a male between the ages of 35 and 50, Dr. Whyatt is a woman in her early thirtees," Everyone looked at him in surprise, waiting for an explanation "She's the therapist I saw after Hankel,"

"Oh," JJ said softly.

"Uh," Tony said awkwardly after clearing his throat "So does this therapist know anything?"

"I don't know," Hotch said then turned to his team "Rossi and I will go talk to her, everyone else make yourselves useful,"

They all nodded and got to work, Reid, Alex and Morgan on the existing profile, whilst the NCIS agents started to work it as if Lieutenant Watson was the only victim.

* * *

"Emily!" Abby screeched in delight as she heard the elevator doors open and whirled around to see them both walk in. She knew Emily would take this case hard, they all would, but that didn't mean she was going to be any less excited to see the raven haired agent. Emily was soon tackled into a fierce hug by an overenthusiastic goth.

"Abby," Emily croaked out due to lack of oxygen "Can't breathe," Abby let go of Emily to look her in the eye.

"Sorry," said Abby, though both Emily and Gibbs could tell that she didn't really mean it. Abby hadn't seen her in months, before she moved to London, and it was a while before she moved. They'd catch up, just Abby, Gibbs, Emily, Ducky and sometimes Jimmy. Ducky would invite him along because he knew that even though he wouldn't admit it, he was kind of like a son to the wise English Medical Examiner.

"What'dya got Abbs?" Gibbs asked Abby, seeing she was still a bit more excited than she should've been. At those three words that she had heard so many times before, Abby turned a little more somber and turned back to her screens.

"Glad you asked," Abby replied, still typing away at both of her computers that sat side by side on the desk in the middle of her lab "McGee sent over the footage of Lieutenant Watson at the gas station before she went to the restaurant-" not having been informed of the news Tim had gone over with the rest of the agents, Abby saw their confused faces "McGee'll explain later-anyway, I went through it and after sifting through every pixel there was to see, I found this," she said and zoomed in on the Buick after Watson got out "You see how the windows are tinted so dark, almost illegally, that you can't see inside?" she asked them, almost rhetorically, as she didn't wait for a response before continuing "When I was going through the pixels I noticed something next to the car on the gas pump," she said and zoomed in a little further.

"What is that?" Emily asked "A reflection?" she stepped forward a little bit and frowned as she tried to make out what it was.

"That's what I thought," Abby said "So I dug a little deeper and ran it through some programs, peeling off layer by layer to get a better image, and I finally got this," Abby brought it up onto the plasma on the wall in front of them so they could see a little better. As Abby brought it up, they recognized the reflection in the gas pump as another male.

"Who is he?" asked Gibbs as he turned is head back to look at her.

"I ran him through facial recognition, and came up with a Lieutenant Andrew Flemming, I just sent McGee the file," Abby said almost triumphantly.

"Nice work Abbs," Both Gibbs and Emily said in unison and Gibbs kissed her on the cheek before both agents walked out to go see Ducky.

* * *

"Ah! Emily my dear," Ducky said in delight as he saw them walk through the doors of Autopsy "It's lovely to see you, I'd come and give you a warmer welcome but I'm covered in human intestinal juices and blood, I'm afraid,"

Emily let out a chuckle at her old friend "Yeah, I think I'll pass on the warmer welcome," she replied "It's good to see you too Ducky," she smiled at him as he gave her a chuckle in return.

"What'd you find, Duck?" Gibbs asked, getting straight to the point as usual.

"Well, Jethro, I found the same as all the other young ladies that have come across my table from this man, they were tortured from head to toe, but the final cause of death was loss of blood," Ducky explained. Emily zoned out as she noticed something on the young, petite, yet lifeless woman's wrists.

"What're those?" she gestured to the marks. They were purple out of bruising, but they were also burnt and half melted off.

"I was just about to get to those," Ducky said as he gently lifted it off of the table "You see the way it has scorched the skin right through so it bled? This suggests that it was hot enough to break the skin, I also found the pattern of the bruising suspicious," he continued "I've seen them before but not as severe as these, the last victims didn't have these types of burns and bruising, we established that our killer used a rope to tie these women up, but this time it was something harder-"

"Handcuffs," Gibbs cut him off.

"Precisely," Ducky said.

"So do you know why the handcuffs would get hot enough to break the skin?" Emily asked, afraid to ask the question she partly knew the answer to.

"I'm afraid, my dear, that the Lieutenant here was tortured far worse than our previous victims, this poor young woman was electrocuted through the handcuffs, passing enough volts through the metal restraints and burning into the skin,"

Emily sighed in horror, a blank expression on her face as she looked over at Gibbs, doing the same thing as she was, willing himself to not stop until he find this son-of-a-bitch.

* * *

"Dr Whyatt, I'm Special Agent Hotchner, and this is Special Age-" Hotch went to introduce himself and Rossi, only to be cut off by the younger woman. They stood in her office, taking in their surroundings, it was light with a wall-length window and her furniture was modern.

"Rossi," the woman smiled politely "You work with Special Agent Prentiss," she said then looked at Dave again "And I've read your books,"

"If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you some questions about Agent Prentiss," said Rossi.

"Well that depends on the questions," she said and led them over to the white couch "What do you want to know?"

Hotch was the first one to speak "Does Prentiss ever talk about her personal life?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Dr Whyatt said "Patient Confidentiality, remember?"

"Yes we know, but it's very important," Rossi said.

"Look, I want to help you, I really do," Dr Whyatt said "But you know as well as I do that Emily doesn't trust people easily, and if you give her one reason to turn around and run, she become Usain Bolt on steroids," she reminded them, not that she had to "If I tell you anything of what Emily tells me, she will lose that trust that I've built with her, and she's actually started to open up and not tell me lies about her cat and her mother,"

Hotch smirked slightly at that, remembering the conversation he had with Emily about the 'Perfect Man' on the plane before a case "You write notes when you're in session, who has access to them?" Hotch asked.

"No one, I lock them in my office and in my filing cabinet, I have to use three keys to get to them," she explained and saw their slightly surprised expressions "I take my job and my duty to my patients very seriously,"

"How many staff work here?" Rossi asked.

"With me, thirteen," said Dr Whyatt "Five are other counselors and we each have our own secretary, the other two are janitors,"

Hotch and Rossi nodded as they all stood "Thank you for your time Doctor," Hotch said and they each shook her hand again.

"I just wish I could've helped more," Dr Whyatt said "She's an exceptional person, keep her safe,"

"We will," Rossi said before they walked out and headed back to the Navy Yard.

* * *

**So? Please review and if you have any ideas, don't be afraid to share them with me :) **

**And if you think I'm taking too long to update, nag me**

**it generally works ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I haven't been up to date with CM until a couple of days ago, that's when I found out that Alex was married. That, however, is not the case in my story because it doesn't fit what I've already written. Sorry to all the Alex/James shippers out there, but for this story you'll have to put up with it I guess :) Anyway, enjoy the third chapter.**

* * *

"So Abby sent over the file of Lieutenant Flemming," McGee announced as he walked into the conference room that the BAU had set up. It had glass boards with photos and files in boxes all around as the team started to look through them from top to bottom. Tony and Ziva were there too, with laptops researching and looking over files to find any anomalies in them. Everyone, wondering who Flemming was, looked up for an answer "He was in Watson's car with her at the gas station, Abby managed to identify him off the gas pump next to the car,"

"What's the connection?" Morgan asked as he swung slightly in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand.

McGee put the copies of files on the table before sitting down, everyone else grabbing a copy of the file "They served together, six years, they were in the same unit over in Afghanistan,"

"Let's go check him out then," Morgan said as he dropped the file on the table and stood up.

"Yeah, I'll come with you," DiNozzo said and stood up, following after him, leaving the other five agents to their files.

"Have you talked to the family yet?" JJ asked Ziva and McGee.

McGee shook his head slightly as Ziva answered "They have been notified, but we are holding back on asking questions,"

"Holding _off_, Ziva," McGee corrected, earning a shrug in return "Gibbs wanted to wait,"

Alex looked up from her file "Why?"

Tim and Ziva looked at each other then shrugged "Who knows why Gibbs does what he does,"

"Obviously not you," said Gibbs as he walked into the conference room, Emily in tow "Where's the rest of your team?" he asked the three profilers left.

"Morgan and DiNozzo went to question Flemming," Reid answered.

"And Hotch and Rossi?" Emily asked.

The five looked at each other before Alex finally spoke up "They went to see Dr Whyatt,"

Emily pursed her lips then nodded and sat down, taking a stack of files from one of the boxes and started to read.

Gibbs looked around the room as them all working then walked out.

* * *

Tony and Morgan walked up to Lieutenant Flemming's door and knocked three times. It was only about ten seconds before someone in grey sweatpants and a navy blue v-neck that said 'USMC' in white on the chest. He had light brown hair in the usual 'buzz-cut' and his eyes were a bright blue.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Andrew Flemming?" asked DiNozzo earning a nod in return before both agents pulled out their badges "I'm Special Agent DiNozzo from NCIS, this is SSA Morgan from the FBI, do you mind if we asked you a few questions about Lieutenant Watson?"

"No, of course," he said and stepped aside to let them in "Of course, come in,"

They looked around the large two-story house. It was old and well styled with antique furniture-obviously not cheap, that was for sure. Flemming shut the door behind them and let them over to the couch.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?" he offered them as they sat down.

"No, thanks," Morgan replied "How well did you know Lieutenant Watson?"

Andrew looked down at his hands, the back up at them "Well enough to know that she was incredibly strong, loyal," he said "She never took crap from anybody, but would take it _for_ anybody, she was smart and funny, beautiful,"

"You were close?" asked Tony.

Flemming nodded "She was everything to me," tears started to well in his eyes and they knew she was more than just a friend to him "I loved her,"

Morgan was the next one to speak up "How long had you two been together?"

"I'd loved her since I first met her in the academy, thirteen years ago, I hadn't seen her in four years, but then we were posted in the same unit for six years, there's a no fraternisation policy, so we couldn't be together, and finally, three years ago, we were split up, we had different postings," he expalined "It took me a while to go for it, but we've been together ever since," tears were stilll rolling down his face when he looked down at his hands.

"Have you noticed or has Lieutenant Watson mentioned anyone following her lately?" Tony asked.

Andrew shook his head after a couple of seconds "No, not that I recall, but Laura said she felt like she was being watched, but she brushed it off pretty quickly," he shook his head again "She asked me to stay the night, but I just wanted to go home, maybe if I had just stayed the night, if I hadn't been so selfish, she wouldn't be..." he let the sentence hang there.

"This isn't your fault, man," Derek said "None of this is your fault,"

"You'll find the son of a bitch who did this?" Flemming asked as he sat up straighter.

"He's hunting one of our own, you can count on it," Tony replied as they all stood up.

Lieutenant Flemming nodded and shook their hands "Thank you, Agents,"

* * *

He knocked three times. She was going to kill him for this, and he knew it. But this was necessary to keep her safe, keep him from the heartache. Why Emily? Why does she always get threats? Why is she the target of all psychopaths? If half the people who called her a 'bitch' or tried to kill her had actually met her, she would have half the country protecting her like he is. There have been so many things in Emily Prentiss' life that just never went her way. Her mother, her father, John Cooley, Matthew Benton, Ian Doyle, just to name a few. Now there's another one hunting her down, making her feel like all of it is her own fault, but everyone else knew better. Her team, his team, they all know better than to think that any of this is her fault.

This guy has a fixation, a fascination, and Reid would be able to spout out every fact of everything that's wrong with this UnSub.

It was about ten seconds before someone answered the door and he knew that Emily would royally kick his ass for this "Gibbs, hey, what's up?" Declan smiled. Yep. He's screwed.

"I need your help with something," He's definitely a goner.

* * *

Rossi and Hotch walked back into NCIS and made their way to the conference room to find JJ, Reid, Alex, Emily, McGee and Ziva working on the files.

"Where's Morgan and DiNozzo?" Rossi asked them.

"Going to speak with Lieutenant Flemming," McGee answered, everyone looked up at them, except for Emily, who didn't even acknowledge their presence.

"And Gibbs?" Hotch asked them, keeping his eye on Emily, a second too long. Everyone shrugged in response "Prentiss, can I see you for a moment?"

Emily looked up for a moment before throwing the file on the table and following him out "Yes?"

"I know you must be upset about us going-"

"Upset?" Emily scoffed "You went behind my back to my therapist, who you must have known wouldn't tell you anything," she cup him off "What? Did you think you would just waltz in there all high and mighty and think she would just open up to you about everything I have told her?"

"No-"

"You didn't think I would tell you anything that would be relevant to the case? I'm the target here, Hotch, you think you would trust me enough to just ask me directly but-hey, I guess a lot has changed over the past three months, hasn't it?" she finished just as her phone rang. She shot him one last look before walking off to answer it, leaving him speechless and stunned "Prentiss," she answered more bitter than she usually would.

_"Well that's a greeting I wasn't hoping for,"_ she recognized the voice and accent immediately and smiled.

"Hey, Blake, sorry, it's just been a rough day," she sighed.

_"It's okay, I get it,"_ he replied _"Today hasn't been the best day for me either, which is actually why I'm calling,"_ he continued _"I just needed to hear your voice,"_

She smiled brightly "Well, I think I can help with that one," she replied then lowered her voice, almost to a whisper "Do you want to talk about it?"

_"Not really,"_ he sighed_ "Not now anyway,"_

"Well, when you're ready, you have my number," Emily replied "I hope your day gets better,"

_"It just did,"_ he replied _"I'll talk to you soon,"_ and with that he hung up, leaving Emily with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," she whispered "Mine did too," and with that, she composed herself and put her game-face on before walking back into the conference room.

"I'm looking for an Emily Prentiss?" they heard from the door.

"Yes?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"You need to sign for this," the man said and gave her a package. She nodded and signed for it, then waited for him to walk away before opening it. It was a large yellow envelope and she tipped the contents onto the table, revealing photos and a note.

_"Emily Prentiss, I know you must be with your dear friends at the Naval Base by now, so I'll send it straight to you. You must be blaming yourself by now. Good. You should be. I've taken these photos to show that I know things that even your team don't know. I see you've made a new friend, two, in fact. Well, they won't be your friends for long. Bye for now-but not forever. Love, Me."_ she read. She looked up to see the rest of the team had taken a look at the photos.

"Em..." JJ whispered and gave her the picture she was holding.

_'Shit'_ she thought. It was a photo of Blake and herself naked in bed. Luckily the sheet covered from her waist down and Blake's body covered her chest. The team didn't see it as pornographic, but it was uncomfortable because it was Emily. The photo was obviously taken outside her window and the lens had been zoomed in quite far.

Alex handed her another, it was of the same context though Emily was still half clothed and she was pushed up against the wall with Blake at her neck.

Ziva handed her another with Alex and Emily stumbling in half drunk after the night they had at the bar. They were snickering and trying to keep each other upright in their heels.

Emily looked back at the letter and re-read one part in particular _'they won't be your friends for long'_. She read the sentence over and over before dropping it and racing out the door, the rest of the team on her heels.

"Emily!" they called out after her, but she didn't stop until she reached the elevator, pressing the button so many times that she didn't bother counting.

"Emily, where are you going?" asked Hotch.

She didn't reply, she just kept pressing the button.

JJ looked at the rest of the team and nodded, telling them that she'd handle it. The doors finally opened and they stepped inside.

"He's in danger, I've put him in danger," Emily said as they rode down.

JJ knew who she was talking about straight away "Blake..." she whispered.

"He can't die," she said shaking her head "He can't,"

"Em, listen to me," said JJ, grabbing both of her best friend's hands "He's not going to die, Blake can take care of himself,"

"I still have to get to him before this guy does," Emily said.

"I know, I know," said JJ "But you need to calm down,"

Emily looked into JJ's eyes and took a deep breath before nodding "We're still going to find him,"

JJ smiled at how much Emily liked this guy. It was rare. It was also rare for her to freak out like she was now, she was normally composed and the walls would get twice as thick and twice as high in a situation like this. Emily was the type of girl to brush guys off, push them away. But there was something about this one.

* * *

"Where's Emily?" Gibbs asked as he walked into the conference room. That seemed to be the type-of-question-of-the-day every time someone walked in. No one answered him, they just passed him the photos and the letters. He picked up the letter and read it before looking at the photos. Partially disturbed at the sexual nature of the photos, he asked "Where did she go?"

"We think she went to Agent James," said Alex.

Gibbs looked at her "This is Agent James?" he pointed to the guy in the photos.

"Yeah," said Alex. with a nod "She seemed pretty shaken,"

Gibbs nodded "I spoke with Declan,"

"Boss," McGee said "She's gonna kill you,"

"I know," said Gibbs "Which is why we don't tell her, he doesn't know anything anyway,"

Hotch stood up straighter "You went behind her back to her son?"

Gibbs stood straighter, toe-to-toe with the Unit Chief "Like you went behind her back to her therapist? At least Declan would have been able to help,"

The rest of the teams stood up slowly, ready to pull them apart if one of them started a blood bath.

"You thought that she would break doctor-patient confidentiality?" Gibbs asked him "They don't even break that after the patient's dead,"

"Okay," Rossi said stepping in between the two agents "We all have Emily's best interests at heart, how about we take a step back and grab lunch or something?"

"Anything to get away from this idiot," Gibbs spat out.

"As long as it doesn't involve him," Hotch said at the same time.

With that, the two team leaders left in opposite directions

"This is gonna be a long case, isn't it?" Alex asked the rest of them.

"Sure is," McGee sighed before they got up and went to grab some lunch.

* * *

**Third chapter. I know it's been a long time and I'm really sorry guys.**

**Thank you for all your review and follows, keep it up :)**


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